Bristol Studies in East Asian International Relations

The Responsibility to Provide in Southeast Asia: Towards an Ethical Explanation, First Edition
See Seng Tan

Despite the long-held and jealously guarded Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) principle of non-intervention, this book argues that states in Southeast Asia have begun to display an increasing readiness to think about sovereignty in terms not only of state responsibility to their own populations but also towards neighbouring countries as well.

Taking account of the realities of interstate cooperation in the region, and drawing on the work of Emmanuel Levinas, the author develops a new theoretical framework reflecting an evolution of attitudes about state sovereignty to explain this emerging ethic of regional responsibility.